The Sh3 billion face-lift of Kisumu Port has begun in earnest as the government seeks to restore the once vibrant East Africa hub to its glory days. The renovation of the port is meant to allow bigger vessels to dock in Kisumu to enhance trade with neighbouring countries. The renovated port is expected to be officially commissioned by President Uhuru Kenyatta, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Felix Tshisekedi of DR Congo in August. Interior CS Fred Matiangi toured the facility on Friday and said it will create more employment and business opportunities. The government has already released Sh500 million for the face-lift with the remaining Sh2.5 billion to be pumped in soon. Matiangi toured the port to inspect ongoing works. He is expected in another tour in the company of Transport CS James Macharia in the next two weeks. “The President has ordered that we pull out all the stop, including different authorities like Kenya Railways, Kenya Ports Authority, National Youth Service, Kenya Navy amongst others, so that we clean up this place. it will be revamped and people will get employed,” Matiang'i said. On June 14, President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga took a discreet, impromptu tour of the port to check progress of construction works. the two leaders were also at the port in January. “We were here with the President and Raila Odinga who told us that this place was vibrant in the early years but neglection led to its poor state today. The ongoing...

As ratification of the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement (USMCA) moves forward slowly, a landmark free trade agreement has been signed several thousand miles away on the continent of Africa. While 52 African nations signed the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), to date 24 have ratified the agreement (22 were needed to actually bring the agreement into force). The AfCFTA breaks new ground and ushers the continent towards being a more seamless and frictionless trade region. Though it could be argued that these African nations are largely underdeveloped, the collective GDP of all the 55 states in Africa accounts for a staggering $3 trillion, making it the fifth-largest trade front in the world. This is excellent news for the U.S., as the African nations coalescing into a single trade region will greatly help in expediting unified trade deals, rather than developing tailor-made trade agreements with individual countries across the continent. The timing of this development also suits U.S. interests, coming at a time when there is an escalation of trade tariff exchanges between the U.S. and China. Over the last decade, Africa has become the hotspot for investment, with superpowers like Russia and China channeling billions of dollars to gain a strategic foothold on the continent. Beijing has been especially aggressive, investing heavily in Africa to widen its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that aims at reviving the ancient Silk Route and also extend much further to account for all major trading partners of China. The U.S. has accused China of using...

Lest we forget, it was on November 30, 1999 at Sheikh Amri Abeid Memorial Stadium in Arusha, Tanzania that three heads of state (of the Republic of Uganda, the Republic of Kenya and the United Republic of Tanzania) put pen to paper and signed the treaty that revived the EAC. Again, to jog our memory, the EAC had earlier been established from 1967 and it collapsed 10 years later in 1977. The current EAC 20-year journey has been remarkable, the inevitable challenges notwithstanding. The framers of the treaty that established the EAC envisaged a community that would be anchored on four pillars. This is aptly captured in Article 5 where the partner states undertook “to establish among themselves, a Customs Union, a Common Market, subsequently a Monetary Union and ultimately a Political Federation.” The partner states have signed and ratified three protocols in line with these pillars. Implementation of these protocols is at various stages with a commendable degree of success. The pillars are very crucial forerunners to the ultimate goal of political federation. Thus, in 2017, the EAC heads of state agreed on political confederation as a transitional model to full East African Political Federation. All the partner states have, accordingly, nominated experts and set up a team that is currently working on the confederation constitution. Uganda’s former Chief Justice Benjamin Odoki and Makerere University’s Prof Murindwa Rutanga are part of this team. When asked to highlight the salient achievements of the 20-year EAC integration, one is spoilt for choice....

The African Continental Free Trade Area’s (AfCFTA) entering into force is a laudable development, building on existing initiatives for regional integration and laying the groundwork for more. The immense support from countries and leaders across the continent is merited. At the same time, however, AfCFTA’s strong political backing and the excitement surrounding its rapid progress has led to some claims of its potential benefits going unchallenged, particularly surrounding intra-African trade gains. Most commentators appear reluctant to interrogate publicly a popular pan-African project, even when this analysis might be constructive. This is a problem because a misleading impression has been created that signatory countries should soon enjoy the benefits of improved trade levels. Specifically, following repeated citations by international organisations and the media, the estimate that AfCFTA will lead to a 52.3% increase in intra-African trade by 2022 is now widely taken as a given. The African Union quotes this figure as if it were fact, while the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) suggest such an eventuality is “likely”. The statistic has been repeated frequently by dozens of news outlets, from Al Jazeera to Fortune. Though seldom cited, this number comes from a paper presented in 2012 by two UNECA specialists to the 7th African Economic Conference. And, importantly, the report’s authors make clear that their projection of a 52.3% increase by 2022 – compared to a 2010 baseline – is based on several assumptions: a fully-liberalised and continent-wide trade area by 2017; harmonisation of external...

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has partnered with the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) to harmonise standards with a view to increasing market access of agricultural produce in the region. Kenya is second after Uganda to start implementing the project whose inception meeting and high-level stakeholder dialogue will take place this week in Nairobi. The events bring together experts from the private sector, relevant public sector departments and institutions of government to build consensus on the most critical investments. Trade PS Chris Kiptoo said the variation of standards in the Comesa countries and the continent undermines the region’s capacity to trade with itself. “The diversity of strengths and weaknesses on the continent demands greater collaboration between countries that belong to the same Free Trade Area,” he said. Dr Kiptoo said compliance with standard measures opens export opportunities for producers and exporters, at the intra-regional and international levels. For Kenya, he said, the subject of sanitary and phytosanitary standards is a crucial element of trade policy. The project, which entails mainstreaming of SPS priorities into national policies, is supported by the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF), an agency of the WTO. The project covers Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Malawi. It is being implemented under the Prioritising SPS Investments for Market Access framework, an initiative of the STDF. Intra-Comesa trade remains lower than other regions, at around 11 percent of total Comesa exports with the majority of traded products being of low added value. Comesa director of Agriculture...

The poor trade and economic ties between Kenya and Ethiopia have been blamed on internal politics and poor development record in the neighbouring areas. This emerged on Wednesday at a panel discussion at the University of Nairobi, during the commemoration of 55 years of Kenya-Ethiopia relations. UoN lecturer at the Institute for Development Studies Prof Karuti Kanyinga said the poor development in southern Ethiopia and in northern Kenya had done little to promote cross border trade. “The lessons we draw from this is that politics matters in development and we must be sensitive to it. What is needed to enhance these ties I inclusive politics and political commitment to development policies,” Kanyinga said. But the two countries are banking on the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia-Transport Corridor project, and the current reformative administration of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to promote trade and economic relations. “If you look at Kenya’s development in the last 50 years, major investments are a few kilometres from the railway line. So Lapsset can play a major role if it is connected to other parts of the country for the purposes of promoting trade and development in those areas. It should not be that Lapsset is an end to itself,” Kanyingi said. He also noted that governors should be sensitised on the opportunities Lapsset offers to the counties. Lapsset is Eastern Africa’s largest and ambitious infrastructure project that brings together Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan, and seeks to connect Nairobi to Addis Ababa. Lapsset director general and CEO Silvester...

Completion of Phase 2B of the standard gauge railway — from Naivasha to Kisumu — is still on course despite the government rehabilitating the metre gauge line, Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia has said. Speaking to the Nation Tuesday on the sidelines of the Forum for China Africa Cooperation (Focac) in Beijing, Mr Macharia said that since the SGR is a regional project, Kenya is aligning it with what its neighbour Uganda is doing. He said that the time for completing the whole project might have changed but plans to extend it to Malaba have not, adding that China was in the final stages of realising funds. “Kenya is the entry gate of the SGR, which runs from Lamu-Mombasa-Naivasha-Kisumu-Lake Victoria all the way to the Atlantic Ocean in West Africa. However, Kenya cannot develop it on its own because it will not be viable due to the fact that 30 percent of cargo from Mombasa is on transit, of which 85 percent goes to Uganda. There is need to harmonise the SGR with what countries in the region are doing,” said Mr Macharia. “On the future of the SGR and its status, Kenyans need to know that Phase 2A is 98 percent complete and will be operationalised in September. Eventually, the SGR will reach Kisumu and finally Malaba, only timing has changed,” he said. He downplayed fears that upgrading of the old railway could see an end to the SGR, arguing that the venture is an intervention as the country awaits funding...

A team photo taken at VCC’s booth. (From left to right) Mr Sivam K., Business Development Director of VCC, Mr George Chan, General Manager (Africa) of VCC and Mr Viboon Chaojirapant, Product Development Director of VCC Facilitating Cross-border Trade with CamelONE™ The three-day World Customs Organisation IT/TI Conference and Exhibition was held at the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku. Around 900 delegates from 90 countries attended this event. The theme for this year is “New technologies for SMART borders – New opportunities for Trade, Travel and Transport”. Delegates were encouraged to explore different ways to achieve seamless and secured cross-borders trades. During the Tech Talk session, our Product Development Director, Mr Viboon Chaojirapant, shared about the importance of cross-border transit trade. VCC is also actively involved in the Single Customs Territory (SCT) Project which is funded by TradeMark Africa. One of the key objectives of this project is to provide a seamless flow of goods to enhance East Africa Community (EAC) trade. Lastly, Mr Viboon Chaojirapant also shared about the CAREC Advanced Transit System (CATS) and Customs Information Common Exchange (ICE) trade facilitation projects. CATS and ICE are two of the five priority areas identified by the CAREC Customs Cooperation Committee. CATS helps remove regional transit impediments while ICE establishes a data exchange mechanism. The Tech Talk session gave the delegates a better understanding of VCC, our solutions and also insights about cross-border trade. Many delegates went over to VCC’s booth after the session, to speak to Mr Viboon Chaojirapant to...

Kenya will host the Source 21 Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) International Trade Fair and high-level business summit from July 17 to 21, organizers said on Thursday. Sandra Uwera, CEO of COMESA Business Council, told journalists in Nairobi that the forum will bring together the policymakers and the private sector from the 21 COMESA member states who are the drivers of trade and economic development "It will include a presidential dialogue where heads of states will interact with business leaders on key strategies to enhance industry competitiveness and formulate strategies to enhance local sourcing and intra-regional trade," Uwera said. She added that the sectoral roundtables will also provide a platform for engagement on sector-specific issues. "The topics will be centered on manufacturing competitiveness, digitalization and trade facilitation, digital financial services and regional payment systems, standards and quality issues, smart and sustainable cities and the continental free trade area," the CEO. According to the organizers, the platform will also be a forum to address some of the key impediments affecting businesses in cross-border trade as well as promote industrial growth and competitiveness. Source: Xinhaunet

Kenya is in talks with the African Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO) member states to develop a common regulatory framework that will fast track the implementation of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement. AfCFTA deliberations not only bind all ARSO member states to commit to the progressive elimination of tariffs and non-tariff barriers to trade, but are expected to contribute immensely in sustainable development of Africa. This is through poverty reduction by improved harmonization of standards and conformity assessment,  and coordination of trade policies and instruments across African countries and Regional Economic Communities (RECs). While addressing delegations from African countries during the official opening ceremony of the 25th ARSO General Assembly and the Africa Day of Standardisation forum, Hon. Peter Munya, MGH, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Industry, Trade and Cooperatives reaffirmed the government’s commitment in promoting intra-African trade through elimination of import duties and non-tariff barriers. “As a signatory to both the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and AfCFTA agreements, Kenya is committed to ensuring that Technical Barriers to Trade are reduced as a way of ensuring market access for all players. In this regard, we will continue to commit necessary resources to ensure sustained participation in the ARSO Standards Harmonization programs,” said Hon. Munya. It is estimated that if all the 55 African countries join the Africa Continental Free Trade Area, the market size would include 1.7 billion people by 2030, with an estimated US$6.7 trillion of cumulative consumer and business spending making it the world’s largest free trade...